NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – Investors’ desire to buy, driven by the hope for further government aid, set some US indices with further records on Friday. However, the Dow Jones Industrial was not one of them: When the momentum subsided, the leading index was even clearly in the red at times. He struggled, however, and with 31,097.97 points brought an increase of 0.18 percent over the finish line. For the first week of the year 2021, he posted a profit of 1.6 percent.
Other indices again set higher records: the market-wide S&P 500 at 3826 points and the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 above the 13,000 mark. In the end, the S&P rose 0.55 percent to 3824.68 points. The Nasdaq selection index once again outshone its peers with an increase of 1.28 percent to 13,105.20 points.
According to Goldman Sachs analyst Chris Hussey, investors ignored a disappointing US job report and rising virus infection rates and instead focused more on recently encouraging sentiment indicators and hopes for additional government aid in a Democratic presidency under Joe Biden.
To combat the Corona crisis, the future US President is aiming for another billion dollar economic stimulus package, the details of which he will present at the end of next week. At times, the hope of such a package, which had long been played on the market, was dampened by a report on statements by the Democratic Senator of West Virginia, Joe Manchin, which he later put into perspective.
In the USA, the recovery in the labor market was halted for the time being, as shown by a decline in employment in December. Investors were not alarmed by this. In the market it was rather said that this development was only confirmed by the US Federal Reserve in its loose monetary policy. This is considered to be the second important factor, which is why experts currently see the stock exchanges chasing records.
Semiconductor stocks did not contribute to the comparatively good mood in the technology sector for long. Among the sector values, Micron shares in particular slipped 2.1 percent after an optimistic sales forecast and a strong start. For the first time in twenty years the shares had first traded above the $ 80 mark, then profit-taking began.
Tesla, on the other hand, didn’t get enough of investors on Friday either, the topic of e-mobility continues to attract them in droves. The papers of the electric car maker continued their record rally with another price jump of almost eight percent. After the stock split in August, they traded above the $ 850 mark for the first time – with up to $ 884 even significantly.
According to speculations, Apple could be involved in a foray into Tesla’s specialty – in a market-traded cooperation with Hyundai in the development of a self-driving electric car. This initially drove the shares of the South Korean automaker up on Friday, Apple followed with an increase of 0.9 percent.
In the case of Boeing, on the other hand, the shares were shaken by the fact that the disaster surrounding the 737 Max crash plane cost the aircraft manufacturer dearly. The corporation is paying a fine of more than $ 2.5 billion to settle criminal proceedings. The shares then went 1.3 percent lower from trading.
Positive news, on the other hand, supported the shares of the vaccine developer Biontech, whose shares in New York returned after a few weeks of lull with a price jump of 7.2 percent just above the 100 dollar mark. On the one hand, the EU Commission signed a contract for a further 300 million cans. On the other hand, according to an initial analysis, the vaccine also works against the new virus variants that were first detected in Great Britain and South Africa.
The rate of the euro fell towards $ 1.22. Most recently, US $ 1.2226 was paid for the common currency. The European Central Bank (ECB) had meanwhile set the reference rate at 1.2250 (Thursday: 1.2276) dollars. The dollar cost 0.8163 (0.8145) euros.
US Treasuries suffered further price losses after the job data on inflation concerns. The futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note-Future) fell by 0.20 percent to 136.60 points. The yield on the ten-year bond rose to 1.12 percent./tih/he
By Timo Hausdorf, dpa-AFX
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